25th birthday for .com domain

Symbolics we salute you

The .com domain name is celebrating its 25th birthday, with computer maker Symbolics.com the first to add the domain to its name on March 15, 1985.

Nine years before anyone thought to buy sex.com, and with the world wide web still a gleam in Sir Tim Berners-Lee's eye, Symbolics became the first to register a .com, and earn itself a footnote in internet history.

Five others took the plunge that year and bought a domain name, with the BBC suggesting that another 199 million or so have been registered since.

Around 86 million of those are still active as internet sites.

Who would have guessed?

Mark McLaughlin, CEO of .com domain controllers Verisign, said: "Who would have guessed 25 years ago where the internet would be today and the number of businesses that have been built on it."

Symbolics may have shown great foresight in getting on the .com gravy train years before anyone had started to cook the meat, but unfortunately it was not enough to save the company, which went bust.